How are tasks ordered within the portal?

Every portal decides for itself how tasks, forms and file requests are sequenced on its Tasks page. Open the portal, go to the Assign Items step and look for Portal Tasks order at the top of the assigned content; the Ordering method dropdown has three options.

Smart (recommended)

The default for every portal. Items are sorted in this hierarchy:

1. Required before optional.
2. Incomplete (or not yet submitted) before completed.
3. By type — tasks, then file requests, then forms.
4. By due date, earliest first; items with no due date go last.
5. By name, alphabetically.

Due date

One chronological list across every type — a form due Friday sits above a task due next week. Items without a due date are grouped at the end; ties on the same date fall back to name order. There is nothing to arrange; pick the option and the portal re-sorts from then on.

Custom

You set a single order and tasks, forms and file requests can be interleaved freely — useful when a form has to come before the task that depends on it.

1. Choose Custom in Ordering method. The reorder panel opens underneath with two tabs.
2. My Tasks holds items assigned directly to the contact or group; Submission Tasks holds items scoped to a session, with each session group ordered on its own.
3. Drag items into place in each tab. Reset puts them back; the footer button becomes Save and Next while the order is unsaved — click it to save.

Things to know in Custom mode:

• Anything you assign to the portal later is appended to the end of the relevant list until you move it.
• Items marked Dynamic appear only for some participants — for example a task assigned by filter — so people may see a subset of the list.
• Tasks assigned to a contact directly, outside this portal, are not in the panel but still show in that person’s portal.
• Dragging inside the individual Tasks, Forms and File Requests sections is disabled; this panel is the only place to reorder.

Leaving the step with unsaved order changes prompts you to Save and continue or discard them. See Portals 101 for the rest of the Assign Items step.